A History of China - UM Library

[Pages:421]A History of China

1

A History of China

The Project Gutenberg EBook of A History of China, by Wolfram Eberhard This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at

Title: A History of China

Author: Wolfram Eberhard

Release Date: February 28, 2004 [EBook #11367]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A HISTORY OF CHINA ***

Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Gene Smethers and PG Distributed Proofreaders

[Transcriber's Note: The following text contains numerous non-English words containing diacritical marks not contained in the ASCII character set. Characters accented by those marks, and the corresponding text representations are as follows (where x represents the character being accented). All such symbols in this text above the character being accented:

breve (u-shaped symbol): [)x] caron (v-shaped symbol): [vx] macron (straight line): [=x] acute (?gu) accent: ['x]

Additionally, the author has spelled certain words inconsistently. Those have been adjusted to be consistent where possible. Examples of such

Chapter I

2

adjustments are as follows:

From To Northwestern North-western Southwards Southward Programme Program re-introduced reintroduced practise practice Lotos Lotus Ju-Ch?n Juch?n cooperate co-operate life-time lifetime man-power manpower favor favour etc.

In general such changes are made to be consistent with the predominate usage in the text, or if there was not a predominate spelling, to the more modern.]

A HISTORY OF CHINA

by

WOLFRAM EBERHARD

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

THE EARLIEST TIMES

Chapter I

: PREHISTORY

1 Sources for the earliest history 2 The Peking Man 3 The Palaeolithic Age 4 The Neolithic Age 5 The eight principal prehistoric cultures 6 The Yang-shao culture 7 The Lung-shan culture 8 The first petty States in Shansi

Chapter II

3

Chapter II

: THE SHANG DYNASTY (c. 1600-1028 B.C.)

1 Period, origin, material culture 2 Writing and Religion 3 Transition to feudalism

ANTIQUITY

Chapter III

: THE CHOU DYNASTY (c. 1028-257 B.C.)

1 Cultural origin of the Chou and end of the Shang dynasty 2 Feudalism in the new empire 3 Fusion of Chou and Shang 4 Limitation of the imperial power 5 Changes in the relative strength of the feudal states 6 Confucius 7 Lao Tz[)u]

Chapter IV

: THE CONTENDING STATES (481-256 B.C.): DISSOLUTION OF THE FEUDAL SYSTEM

1 Social and military changes 2 Economic changes 3 Cultural changes

Chapter V

4

Chapter V

: THE CH'IN DYNASTY (256-207 B.C.)

1 Towards the unitary State 2 Centralization in every field 3 Frontier Defence. Internal collapse

THE MIDDLE AGES

Chapter VI

: THE HAN DYNASTY (206 B.C.-A.D. 220)

1 Development of the gentry-state 2 Situation of the Hsiung-nu empire; its relation to the Han empire. Incorporation of South China 3 Brief feudal reaction. Consolidation of the gentry 4 Turkestan policy. End of the Hsiung-nu empire 5 Impoverishment. Cliques. End of the Dynasty 6 The pseudo-socialistic dictatorship. Revolt of the "Red Eyebrows" 7 Reaction and Restoration: the Later Han dynasty 8 Hsiung-nu policy 9 Economic situation. Rebellion of the "Yellow Turbans". Collapse of the Han dynasty 10 Literature and Art

Chapter VII

: THE EPOCH OF THE FIRST DIVISION OF CHINA (A.D. 220-580)

(A) The three kingdoms (A.D. 220-265) 1 Social, intellectual, and economic problems during the period of the first division 2 Status of the

Chapter VII

5

two southern Kingdoms 3 The northern State of Wei

(B) The Western Chin dynasty (265-317) 1 Internal situation in the Chin empire 2 Effect on the frontier peoples 3 Struggles for the throne 4 Migration of Chinese 5 Victory of the Huns. The Hun Han dynasty (later renamed the Earlier Chao dynasty)

(C) _The alien empires in North China, down to the Toba_ (A.D. 317-385) 1 The Later Chao dynasty in eastern North China (Hun; 329-352) 2 Earlier Yen dynasty in the north-east (proto-Mongol; 352-370), and the Earlier Ch'in dynasty in all north China (Tibetan; 351-394) 3 The fragmentation of north China 4 Sociological analysis of the two great alien empires 5 Sociological analysis of the petty States 6 Spread of Buddhism

(D) The Toba empire in North China (A.D. 385-550) 1 The rise of the Toba State 2 The Hun kingdom of the Hsia (407-431) 3 Rise of the Toba to a great power 4 Economic and social conditions 5 Victory and retreat of Buddhism

(E) Succession States of the Toba (A.D. 550-580): _Northern Ch'i dynasty, Northern Chou dynasty_ 1 Reasons for the splitting of the Toba empire 2 Appearance of the (G?k) Turks 3 The Northern Ch'i dynasty; the Northern Chou dynasty

(F) The southern empires 1 Economic and social situation in the south 2 Struggles between cliques under the Eastern Chin dynasty (A.D. 317-419) 3 The Liu-Sung dynasty (A.D. 420-478) and the Southern Ch'i dynasty (A.D. 479-501) 4 The Liang dynasty (A.D. 502-556) 5 The Ch'en dynasty (A.D. 557-588) and its ending by the Sui 6 Cultural achievements of the south

Chapter VIII

6

Chapter VIII

: THE EMPIRES OF THE SUI AND THE T'ANG

(A) The Sui dynasty (A.D. 580-618) 1 Internal situation in the newly unified empire 2 Relations with Turks and with Korea 3 Reasons for collapse

(B) _The T'ang dynasty_ (A.D. 618-906) 1 Reforms and decentralization 2 Turkish policy 3 Conquest of Turkestan and Korea. Summit of power 4 The reign of the empress Wu: Buddhism and capitalism 5 Second blossoming of T'ang culture 6 Revolt of a military governor 7 The role of the Uighurs. Confiscation of the capital of the monasteries 8 First successful peasant revolt. Collapse of the empire

MODERN TIMES

Chapter IX

: THE EPOCH OF THE SECOND DIVISION OF CHINA

(A) The period of the Five Dynasties (906-960) 1 Beginning of a new epoch 2 Political situation in the tenth century 3 Monopolistic trade in South China. Printing and paper money in the north 4 Political history of the Five Dynasties

(B) Period of Moderate Absolutism (1) The Northern Sung dynasty 1 Southward expansion 2 Administration and army. Inflation 3 Reforms and Welfare schemes 4 Cultural situation (philosophy, religion, literature, painting) 5 Military collapse

(2) _The Liao (Kitan) dynasty in the north_ (937-1125) 1 Sociological

Chapter IX

7

structure. Claim to the Chinese imperial throne 2 The State of the Kara-Kitai

(3) _The Hsi-Hsia State in the north_ (1038-1227) 1 Continuation of Turkish traditions

(4) The empire of the Southern Sung dynasty (1127-1279) 1 Foundation 2 Internal situation 3 Cultural situation; reasons for the collapse

(5) _The empire of the Juch?n in the north (i_ 115-1234) 1 Rapid expansion from northern Korea to the Yangtze 2 United front of all Chinese 3 Start of the Mongol empire

Chapter X

: THE PERIOD OF ABSOLUTISM

(A) The Mongol Epoch (1280-1368) 1 Beginning of new foreign rules 2 "Nationality legislation" 3 Military position 4 Social situation 5 Popular risings: National rising 6 Cultural

(B) The Ming Epoch (1368-1644) 1 Start. National feeling 2 Wars against Mongols and Japanese 3 Social legislation within the existing order 4 Colonization and agricultural developments 5 Commercial and industrial developments 6 Growth of the small gentry 7 Literature, art, crafts 8 Politics at court 9 Navy. Southward expansion 10 Struggles between cliques 11 Risings 12 Machiavellism 13 Foreign relations in the sixteenth century 14 External and internal perils

(C) The Manchu Dynasty (1644-1911) 1 Installation of the Manchus 2 Decline in the eighteenth century 3 Expansion in Central Asia; the first State treaty 4 Culture 5 Relations with the outer world 6 Decline; revolts 7

Chapter X

8

European Imperialism in the Far East 8 Risings in Turkestan and within China: the T'ai P'ing Rebellion 9 Collision with Japan; further Capitulations 10 Russia in Manchuria 11 Reform and reaction: The Boxer Rising 12 End of the dynasty

Chapter XI

: THE REPUBLIC (1912-1948)

1 Social and intellectual position 2 First period of the Republic: The warlords 3 Second period of the Republic: Nationalist China 4 The Sino-Japanese war (1937-1945)

Chapter XII

: PRESENT-DAY CHINA 1 The growth of communism 2 Nationalist China in Taiwan 3 Communist China Notes and References Index ILLUSTRATIONS 1 Painted pottery from Kansu: Neolithic. _In the collection of the Museum

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download